Friday, August 4, 2017

USA July 2017

Tesla Model 3, VIN 0000001. Surely the first of millions. And the dawn of a new era.

The Messiah has landed

Yes, the Honda Clarity Electric has arrived, with 34 deliveries......Just kidding, July 2017 signaled the registration of the first units of the much awaited (and hyped) Tesla Model 3, granted, it were just 30 units and we shouldn't consider them as actual "deliveries", but more as Beta testers, as they were handed to Tesla employees, so any kinks they might have will be handled inhouse, with no disclosure to the outside world.Anyway, these are the first of what will be many thousands units zooming Californian streets, so as Ragnar Lothbrok would say: "Skal"!But enough of Rookies, back to the overall market, 15.607 units were registered, leaving the YTD EV Share at a record 1.1%, with over 100.000 units already registered, the US market is headed for a record year, with December possibly surpassing the 250.000 units landmark.

Good news for theproblem child Chevrolet Bolt, winning #1 in July (First of many Best Seller awards?), with 1.971 units, the first time it beats its Volt older brother. Interestingly, the PHEV model registered only 1.518 units last month, its worst result in over a year. Is the new kid on the GM block beggining to hurt its sales? In a stable ranking, the only notable changes were the climbs of the BMW's 330e and 530e, to #13 and #21 respectively, which means the German automaker is pushing production to (finally) satisfy demand for its PHEVs.

In the manufacturers ranking, Tesla (22%, down 1%) has lost ground to the Second Placed Chevrolet (21%). Looking forward, while Chevrolet will get a (small) boost in sales from the nationwide availability of its Bolt, Tesla should trounce it by year end, once the Model 3 production hits volume numbers.

The race for Third place is also close, with Ford (11%, down 1%) resisting (For how long?) to Toyota, also with 11% share and some 1.000 units behind.

Pl

USA

July

YTD

%

1

Tesla Model S e)

1.425

12620

12

2

Chevrolet Volt

1.518

12450

12

3

Toyota Prius Prime

1.645

11337

11

4

Tesla Model X e)

1.650

10595

10

5

Chevrolet Bolt

1.971

9.563

9

6

Nissan Leaf

1.283

8.531

8

7

Ford Fusion Energi

703

5.760

5

8

Ford C-Max Energi

844

5.224

5

9

10

Fiat 500e

BMW i3

475

601

4.303

3.593

4

3

11

BMW X5 PHEV

463

2.609

2

12

Audi A3 e-Tron

218

2.338

2

13

14

15

BMW 330eVolkswagen e-Golf

Hyu. Sonata PHEV

387

308

205

2.256

2.195

1.620

2

2

2

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

252627282930

C. Pacifica PHEVFord Focus electric

Por. Cayenne PHEVKia Soul EVVolvo XC90 PHEVBMW 530e

Mercedes S500eKia Optima PHEVMercedes C350e

Mercedes B250eBMW 740eMercedes GLE550e

BMW i8

Hyundai Ioniq Elec.

Mini Country. PHEV

Others

125

148

160

145

174

343124

13011281

80

27

55

43

75
89

1.532

1.206

1.138

981

949

742535

520400

398

383

295

275

200

85230

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

0

000

0

0

00

TOTAL

15607

104863

100

e) Estimate

Source: insideevs.com; goodcarbadcar.comTesla Model S & Others

Pl

Model

July Sales

1

Mercedes E/CLS-Class

3.876

2

BMW 5-Series

3.173

3

Mercedes S-Class

1.470

4

Tesla Model S e)

1.425

5

Audi A6

1.218

Looking at the E-Segment/full-size vehicles, both the Mercedes E/CLS-Class and BMW 5-Series benefit from volume deliveries of the new generation to stay well above the other models, with the Tesla Model S dropping to Fourth Place, thanks to a strong month of the #3 Mercedes S-Class.

It will be interesting to see if the upcoming Model 3 will cannibalize sufficient sales of the Model S, that forces it to drop it below this Top 5.

As for the Tesla Model X, its 1.650 units were not enough to reach the Top 5 in its class (#5 was the Mercedes GLS, with 2.403 registrations), ending the month in Seventh Place, proving once again that the Tesla SUV should have been doing much better (Around 3.000 units/month) than its five year old brother.